Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen’s State of the County address Friday received praise for delivering a positive message and remembering those who died in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire as well as those who risked their lives to help others, but the mayor’s remarks also raised questions among some Maui County Council members.

Council Chair Alice Lee praised Bissen for working with federal officials to move the toxic fire debris from the 2023 fires to a location adjacent to the Central Maui landfill. But she raised questions about how he is going to implement his vision while his administration needs to fill some 600 county positions.

“We need to get going with filing those positions so people can implement those projects,” Lee said.

She said some of the work might be outsourced, but she feels hiring permanent workers is a more sustainable way of doing the job.

“We need an aggressive program to recruit our personnel,” she said.

Maui County Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura said that, as the Budget, Finance and Economic Development chair, she looks forward to learning more about how Bissen will fund his vision.

She said the county must take urgent action to bring in $1.6 billion in federal disaster recovery funds in light of President Donald Trump’s move to cut federal funding.

“We must take action to bring these funds into our coffers before Trump stops it or fires federal employees who are helping us to recover,” Sugimura said.

Sugimura met this week about securing the $1.6 billion in monies from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.

Former Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino, who lost to Bissen in the last general election, said he thought Bissen did a great job in presenting his speech.

“It was very informative. It was positive and well-received, I believe,” Victorino said.

Maui County Council Member Shane Sinenci said the mayor’s address was a nice respite from what’s happening at the federal level.

“It was nice to see the progress that the county has made since the August 2023 fire and to recognize the work done by different departments,” Sinenci said.

Sinenci described the speech as “hopeful,” particularly in Bissen’s statements about mental health and the healing of Maui County residents.

Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin also said she thought Bissen did a good job in his State of the County address and provided a comprehensive description of the problems and tasks before the county.

However, she said that by no fault of the mayor, she can see things getting a lot worse due to layoffs in the federal government and the continued high cost of living affecting Maui residents.

“These are frightening times,” she said.